Unleashing Creativity with iPads in Mathematics Alex Shum

Head of Mathematics Royal St. George’s College Toronto Ontario Canada

International Boys’ Schools Coalition Action Research Program 2013 Boys, Technology and Creativity

•  Beghetto, R. (2005). Does assessment kill student creativity? The

Educational Forum, 69 (2), 254-263.

•  Lillie, B. (posted 2011, May 18). Creativity and computers in Mathematics: Q & A with Conrad Wolfram.[Ted Blog]. Retrieved from http://blog.ted.com/2011/05/18/creativity- and-computers-in-math-qa-with-conrad-wolfram/

•  Loveless, A. (2002). Literature review in creativity. new technologies and learning. Bristol: Futurelab

•  Mann, E. (2006). Creativity: The essence of Mathematics. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 30(2), 236 - 260.

•  Prenksy, M. (2001). Do they really think differently? On the Horizon, October [ pp 1-6] Retrieved from http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/prensky%20- %20digital%20natives,%20digital%20immigrants%20-%20part2.pdf

•  Reichert, M. & Hawley, R. (2010). Reaching boys teaching boys: Strategies

that work and why. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

The full report of this project and an online copy of this poster are available at http://www.theibsc.org/. Researcher’s email: ashum@rsgc.on.ca

Introduction

•  Engaging boys in mathematical research heightens curiosity; empowers action; nurtures creativity (Reichert & Hawley, 2010).

•  Digital technologies – develops new ideas, makes connections, encourages creativity, heightens collaboration, communication, evaluation (Loveless, 2002).

•  Student-created products integrating up-to-date digital technology engage boys in learning (Reichert & Hawley 2012).

•  Royal St George’s boys habituated in mobile technology.

•  Using iPads & video technology within student-driven project-based learning task may help boys become meaningful producers of Mathematics – not consumers.

Conclusions

•  iPads “made the project more fun because we can get our message across and use things [not typical] in the everyday scenario of math class”.

•  Integrating iPad, with Explain Everything into open-ended project helped

foster creativity.

•  Students embraced failure - keen to not give up leading to new ideas to solve problems.

•  Risk-taking & decision making & critical thinking increased.

Implications on of Study on Practice •  1-1 iPad model necessary to create environment in which flow could be

experienced.

•  Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Policy should be considered.

•  Cloud storage service worthwhile to implement.

•  iPad version of office-type applications worthwhile.

•  Sharing completed projects during a “debut” would be more robust using AirServer, AirPlay, AppleTV or other wireless many-to-one options.

“How can using video and tablet technologies encourage boys to express greater

creativity in their mathematical investigations?”

•  Traditional/ predictive collection & analysis of data, a written report with

spreadsheet & graph, using equation editor embedded in word processor for mathematical research devoid of creative thinking/problem solving.

•  Trialed open approach – topic of choice - via video (Explain Everything video app) with iPad.

•  Choice, time in class, access to any tools compatible with iPad to facilitate creative thinking.

Data Collection

Questionnaire - familiarity with iPad & video publishing technologies.

One-to-one interviews on first impressions with iPad, Explain Everything app and Mathematics.

Online survey with quantitative & open-ended prompts on themes identified from interviews.

Class discussion recorded with iPhone Voice Recorder.

• 

Questionnaire responses reviewed to guide tutorial and instruction.

Notes from interviews reviewed - common themes were coded: Engagement, Technology, & Creativity.

Themes targeted - online survey presenting quantitative results graphically, & comments grouped/ highlighted..

Audio recordings replayed to elaborate notes & distill insightful comments.

•  Boys demonstrated little creativity in applying mathematical principles to demonstrate plausible relationships.

•  All fourteen (14) students in a Grade 9 Principles of Mathematics class (MPM1D) volunteered to participate.

•  Mixed ability, representative of the majority of students in the grade.

Introduction

The Research Question

Research Context & Participants

The Research Action

Key Readings

Key Findings

Conclusions

ON TECHNOLOGY: “It allowed me to express my thinking more than pen and paper can…I can record myself as well as use images and text. I found the fact that I could speak to people through recording. It was especially helpful that I could show steps on the screen at the same time.”

ON CREATIVITY: “helps bring art to math and helps [make] math more than just equations and charts.”

ON ENGAGEMENT: “I was always excited to come to Math class… it made me want to keep working.”

ON CREATIVITY: “I just feel as

though math is very straight

to the point and using the

iPad can change that.”

ON TECHNOLOGY: “So many features that I could put together my presentation the way I wanted.”

ON ENGAGEMENT: “It was like I was using a toy which makes it easier to be creative.”

ON CREATIVITY: “I get to create something extremely unique and fun to do.”

ON TECHNOLOGY: “I found myself using things we learned in class [but because of the iPad] I was having fun. I got to express myself”

Data Collection Data Analysis

Further Information